The present invention relates generally to voice mail systems, and more particularly to network based voice mail systems.
Network based voice mail systems offer a number of interesting advantages compared to traditional answering machine devices, for example, better voice quality, better reliability, the possibility of leaving messages without disturbing recipients by ringing their phone, notification (e.g., pager) or alternative message retrieval (e.g., from a personal computer).
Network based voice mail is furthermore a prerequisite for unified messaging, which requires a single point access to voice mail, electronic mail (e-mail) and fax. These advantages are not only interesting for customers but also for service providers who can sell more and provide better services.
Despite these advantages and despite several attempts from the local telephone companies, network based voice mail to date has not had much success with home customers, even if the service was offered free of charge! According to one survey, the primary reason for this, is the inability to screen calls before answering them. Caller ID devices do not compensate for the loss in case of home usage for several reasons. For one, caller ID devices only show who is calling but give no indication of the purpose of the call. Knowing what the caller wants is important to decide whether or not to answer the call. Moreover, caller ID information is not always available and the caller ID display cannot be read from a distance. To view the display, one would have to walk up to the phonexe2x80x94an activity which is bothersome and which may interrupt one""s dinner or other leisure activity.
Other reasons for not using network based voice mail are the lack of a message indicator and the increased complexity for retrieving voice mail from a network (e.g., no simple xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d button).
One attempt to solve this problem is a product known as Solo-Point, which can be found on the World Wide Web. This device uses three-way calling to conference in a network based voice mail system with a local device that plays the incoming message to enable a user to screen calls. This enables a user to screen calls with a network based voice mail system. Unfortunately, this product is unable to stay in synchronization with the network based voice mail system, in that it cannot always correctly indicate the number of telephone messages in the network based voice mail system because calls that do not pass through this product are not logged by it. This can occur if the telephone line is busy, or the network based voice mail system is accessed directly by a caller. As a result, messages could exist in the network based voice mail system, while the Solo-Point device indicates there are no messages waiting to be played.
The present invention is therefore directed to the problem of developing a network based voice mail system that enables the user to screen calls, yet accurately indicates the number of messages in the network based telephone system and is as easy to use as conventional telephone answering machines.
The present invention solves this problem by providing a remote answering device that is coupled to the network based voice mail system through the telephone network using three-way calling, which remote answering device includes a speaker that enables the user to screen calls and a series of keys to access the network based voice mail system, and a paging device disposed in the network based voice mail system that contacts the remote answering device when the network based voice mail system receives a message that it identifies as not having passed through the remote answering device.
According to the present invention a network based voice mail apparatus includes a network based voice mail system with a user voice mail box, at least one remote answering device coupled to a user""s incoming telephone line, and a telephone network providing three-way calling service, wherein the remote answering device answers an incoming call after a predetermined number of rings, and conferences in the user""s voice mail box in the network based voice mail system using the three-way calling service of the telephone network. In addition, the apparatus includes a paging device that determines that a call was received by the network based voice mail system without simultaneously passing through the remote answering device, which pages the remote answering device and updates the message counter.
Furthermore, the present invention also includes a remote answering device, for use in a network based voice mail system wherein a user voice mail box is accessible over a telephone network via a predetermined telephone number and an optional predetermined access code. This device includes a modem (as used herein, modem refers to any telephone/network interface device, either analog or digital) capable of answering an incoming call upon detecting a predetermined number of rings, dialing the user""s voice mail box using a three-way calling service and conferencing the incoming call with the user""s voice mail box, a memory for storing the predetermined telephone number and the optional predetermined access code, and a processor for controlling the modem and passing the predetermined telephone number and optional predetermined access code from the memory to the modem. In addition, the device includes a paging receiver that receives a page from the network based voice mail system when a message enters the network based voice mail system without previously having passed through the device. The processor then updates the message counter based on the page received by the paging receiver.
According to the present invention, a method for enabling screening of calls by a network based voice mail system, includes the steps of a) monitoring an incoming call to determine whether the call is not being answered by a user; b) answering the incoming call if the user does not answer; c) playing a greeting for the caller; d) conferencing in the user""s network based voice mail system; e) recording a message using the network based voice mail system while simultaneously playing the message over a speaker disposed in the user""s location; and f) paging a remote answering device if a call is received by the user""s network based voice mail system without simultaneously passing through the remote answering device.
In this method according to the present invention, one particularly useful embodiment includes the steps of: f) sensing with the remote answering device when a call is not answered and right after the incoming call has been forwarded to the voice mail system placing a call to the voice mail system itself; and g) conferencing the call from the remote answering device with the incoming call forwarded to the network based voice mail system.